# Postdoctoral Training in Global AIDS Prevention Research

> **NIH NIH T32** · UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LOS ANGELES · 2020 · $540,132

## Abstract

PROJECT SUMMARY/ABSTRACT
This is a competing continuation of the UCLA training program to prepare physician and social/behavioral
scientists for academic research careers focused on Global HIV/AIDS Prevention. Despite the remarkable
advances in prevention of new HIV infections and treatment of HIV disease, significant challenges remain that
highlight the need for integrating behavioral science and biomedical approaches. We request a renewal of our
highly successful training program to help ensure that a new generation of scientific leaders is prepared to take
us forward into the next era of HIV research. A new focus of our program in this continuation will be to integrate
training activities for all of the MD and PhD trainees to foster biobehavioral approaches to solving the major
problems that preclude halting the HIV/AIDS epidemic. We are requesting two new trainee slots each year, with
a total of six trainees in the program at any time and a total of 14 fellows enrolled over the funding period. To
reflect our biobehavioral approach, each year one new trainee will be a physician specializing in adult or pediatric
infectious diseases (i.e., an ID fellow), and one a social/behavioral scientist with a doctoral degree from a relevant
field such as public health, sociology, or public policy. We will ensure all physician trainees receive rigorous
behavioral science training and that all PhD trainees are provided training in use of biomarkers and conducting
research with clinical context and relevance. All trainees will be provided training and support to launch their
careers as independent investigators in global health and HIV/AIDS prevention. Each fellow is in the program
for a maximum of three years and will seek extramural funding to take into a new faculty position at an academic
or health institution. Program goals are achieved through a variety of seminars, mentoring, secondary data
analyses, and the design and implementation of original data collection conducted in our collaborating field sites
that include Malawi, South Africa, Cambodia, Peru, and Brazil. We have a unique opportunity in our program to
foster interdisciplinary collaboration among peers due to the inclusion of both MD and PhD scientists. In this
renewal application, our co-leadership plan embodies biobehavioral science by having one PI, Dr. Judith Currier,
who is a physician scientist who has incorporated behavioral objectives into biomedical research studies and
one PI, Dr. Pamina Gorbach, who is a behavioral scientist who utilizes biomedical outcomes. Our program is
especially designed to prepare young scientists for the future of the HIV/AIDS funding environment that will
require competency in biobehavioral approaches. We will model this integration in our leadership and our
research settings that emphasize Team Science as a building block for success.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 9961653
- **Project number:** 5T32MH080634-14
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LOS ANGELES
- **Principal Investigator:** Judith S. Currier
- **Activity code:** T32 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $540,132
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2007-07-04 → 2022-06-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/9961653

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 9961653, Postdoctoral Training in Global AIDS Prevention Research (5T32MH080634-14). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-23 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/9961653. Licensed CC0.

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